2021 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 1 - Elections
Article 8 - Nominations and Primary Elections
Section 1-8-36.1 - Primary Election Law; write-in candidates. (Effective January 1, 2023.)
A. Write-in candidates are permitted in the primary election only for the offices of United States representative, members of the legislature, district judges, district attorneys, public education commission, magistrates and any office voted upon by all voters of the state.
B. A person may be a write-in candidate only for nomination by the major political party with which the person is affiliated as shown by the certificate of registration, and such person shall have the qualifications to be a candidate in the primary election for the political party for which the person is a write-in candidate.
C. A person desiring to be a write-in candidate for one of the offices listed in Subsection A of this section in the primary election shall file with the proper filing officer a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate. Such declaration of intent shall be filed between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the third Tuesday in March.
D. At the time of filing the declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate, the write-in candidate shall be considered a candidate for all purposes and provisions relating to candidates in the Election Code, including the obligations to report pursuant to the Campaign Reporting Act [1-19-25 to 1-19-36 NMSA 1978], except that the write-in candidate's name shall not be printed on the ballot.
History: 1978 Comp., § 1-8-36.1, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 156, § 1; 1993, ch. 314, § 48; 1993, ch. 316, § 48; 1994, ch. 2, § 2; 1998, ch. 36, § 6; 2009, ch. 150, § 7; 2011, ch. 137, § 59; 2019, ch. 212, § 95; 2020, ch. 9, § 6.
ANNOTATIONSContingent effective date. — Laws 2020, ch. 9, § 6 amended 1-8-36.1 NMSA 1978, effective January 1, 2023, contingent upon the adoption of Laws 2019, SJC/SRC/SJR Nos. 1 and 4, Constitutional Amendment 1, at the general election held on November 3, 2020. Constitutional Amendment 1 was adopted by a vote of 445,655 for and 355,471 against.
The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2023, removed the public regulation commission from the write-in qualifications for certain offices; and in Subsection A, after "district attorneys", deleted "public regulation commission".
